00188. Money glitch?

For Christmas Eve this year Theo did his same tradition of giving everyone a couple of gifts. He dropped them off at the base first before he portaled over to Xavier's school and dropped presents off for everyone there. Afterwards he portaled to Kamar-Taj where he set up a tree with lights and dropped off gifts for all of the sorcerers there. While Theo himself didn't train with everyone else, he visited the library there a bunch and met most of the people training there. So most of them knew him as Ezekiel, The Ancient One's apprentice.

Once he finished off with being Santa, Ezekiel stopped by the medical facility and picked up Tsunade before he portaled to Tony's workshop. As they stepped out of the portal JARVIS said, "Welcome, Ezekiel and Miss. Senju. Mr. Stark is currently in the living room with Miss. Potts."

"Thanks, JARVIS."

"You know my services don't come cheap, I better be getting paid for this."

Ezekiel frowned as he glanced at Tsunade and asked, "Didn't I just give you like ten million a few days ago?"

Tsunade shrugged as she followed Ezekiel to the stairs as she said, "It's gone."

"How do you keep losing so much money?" Ezekiel asked as he opened the door leading upstairs.

"It was just some bad luck is all…"

"You say that every time. But there is no way your luck is really that bad. It's statistically impossible." Ezekiel said as he shook his head.

When Ezekiel and Tsunade arrived in the living room they found Tony cuddled up on one of the couches with Pepper as they talked about something quietly. Ezekiel smiled to himself for a moment before he made his presence known. Tony turned from his spot on the couch to see Ezekiel before he let out a sigh and said, "JARVIS, we've talked about notifying me whenever Ezekiel visited."

"I did, sir."

"No you didn't." Tony said in an annoyed tone.

"If you check your email you will find that I notified you over a minute ago."

"That's not how you should notify me about Ezekiel!" Tony said as he got up from the couch.

Pepper stood up from the couch as well and went to greet Ezekiel and Tsunade as JARVIS said, "You never stated exactly how I should inform you, so I chose email as the default."

Tony glanced at Ezekiel as he said, "I never should have had you help me with programing JARVIS."

Ezekiel smirked as he said, "I just helped with the initial programming. This behavior is all JARVIS… I like it though."

"Thank you, sir."

"Don't encourage him!" Tony said as he playfully punched Ezekiel on the shoulder.

Ezekiel chuckled as he turned to Pepper and asked, "How are you doing?"

"I'm good and so is the baby." Pepper said as she rubbed her belly that was still mostly flat.

Ezekiel nodded before he said, "I know Tony found a doctor who is under NDA to watch over you and the baby. But I brought Tsunade by, to give you a check up just to be safe."

Tony glanced at Tsunade who was having Pepper lay down on the couch as he said, "You sure this is necessary? The doctor I hired said everything is fine."

"Better safe than sorry. Besides, Tsunade has better ways to check the condition of Pepper and the baby." Ezekiel said as he motioned towards Tsunade as she checked over Pepper with green light coming out of her plans.

As they both watched Tsunade work, Ezekiel asked, "Looks like everything is going good, uh?"

"There are some issues, but overall it's going well."

Ezekiel patted Tony on the shoulder as he said, "Good, I'm happy for you guys. Just don't fuck it up."

Tony shoved Ezekiel as he said, "Shut up, don't try and jinx us."

"So how long are you planning to keep this all a secret?"

Tony shrugged slightly as he watched Tsunade work before he said, "We're not completely sure yet. But it definitely won't be until after the baby is born."

"What about marriage?" Ezekiel asked.

"We're not worried about it just yet. Besides, we need to see if this can work out long term in the first place."

Ezekiel rubbed a fake tear from his eye as he asked, "Did you just sound like a responsible adult? Is my little Tony growing up right before my eyes?"

"I believe he is, sir." JARVIS said. 

"I hate both of you."

"Understood, sir." JARVIS said with what sounded like a hint of mirth.

Tsunade finished her exam a few minutes later and said, "Both you and the baby are in great shape. I'll come do another check up in a month, but if anything happens between now and then. Just contact Ezekiel and we'll be here in minutes."

"Thank you. I appreciate it." Pepper said before Tsunade replied, "Don't mention it. Besides, Ezekiel is paying me to be on call."

Tsunade turned towards Ezekiel and held out her hand as she said, "Speaking of which, I need to be paid."

"I'll take care of it, how much is it?" Tony asked.

"Ten million." Tsunade said as she held out her hand towards Tony.

"Ten million?" Pepper and Tony said at the same time with a hint of shock.

Tony recovered quickly as he asked, "Is that for the entire pregnancy?"

Ezekiel opened a portal to some drug cartels stash and started pulling out money as he said, "It shouldn't even be that much for the whole thing… But Tsunade will lose ten million in a week and complain like a little kid if I don't give her more money."

"I don't complain like a little kid."

Ezekiel rolled his eyes as he tossed about ten million dollars on the floor before he closed the portal and said, "She even refuses to work if I don't pay her soon enough."

Tsunade started sealing the money away with a smile as Tony asked, "How much money have you given her?"

"More than the average GDP of most small countries…" Ezekiel said with a forced smile.

Tsunade finished storing her money before she stood up and said, "Alright, make me a portal to Vegas, I'm feeling lucky."

As Ezekiel created a portal, Tony said, "If you go to my casino, I'll text the floor manager and tell them to take care of you."

Before Tsunade stepped through the portal she asked, "Who? Robbie, Frank or Susan?"

Ezekiel patted Tony on the shoulder moments later as he said, "Tsunade is the best whale your casino has. She is probably the best whale in the whole world because she almost never wins."

Tsunade frowned as she said, "I've just been on a losing streak. It won't last long."

Ezekiel waved Tsunade towards the portal as he said, "Sure, sure. Go enjoy yourself."

After the portal closed Ezekiel shook his head as he said, "It won't last long? Her losing streak has pretty much lasted her whole life."

"It can't be that bad… No one is that unlucky." Pepper said.

"JARVIS, how much has Tony's casino made from Tsunade this year?" Ezekiel asked.

"Miss. Senju has spent just over four hundred million this year according to casino records."

Pepper went a little pale as Tony laughed and put his arm over Ezekiel's shoulder and said, "Thanks a lot buddy."

Ezekiel shoved Tony away as he said, "You're not welcome. And don't expect it to happen much longer."

"What? Why not?"

Ezekiel smiled as he said, "I've been building a casino on Genosha. Once it's completed, that will be the only place I let Tsunade gamble going forward."

"No fair! You shouldn't hog a cash cow like that."

"You didn't even realize she was a cash cow until I just told you." Ezekiel said as he shook his head.

"To be fair I don't pay attention to any of the businesses I own, unless they start to lose money and someone brings it up." Tony said with a shrug.

"Isn't Tsunade just spending Ezekiel's money?" Pepper asked.

Tony shook his head as he said, "No. Ezekiel steals money from criminals and gives it to Tsunade to use. He basically uses her to launder stolen money."

"Currently all that money is going to you…"

"I know, which is why you should let her visit my casino more often." Tony said with a smile.

"Why are you stealing money? Don't you make enough from Vibe and the deals you have in place with Tony?" Pepper asked as she stared at Ezekiel in surprise.

Ezekiel shrugged as he said, "Sure I have money. But criminals also have money that they will use to help commit more crimes with. So if I steal money from criminals, I see it as helping to prevent crime."

Ezekiel flashed a smile and threw up the peace sign as he said, "You can think of me as a superhero."

"I'll consider you a superhero if you keep sending Tsunade to my casino… Or make me a partner for the casino you are making in Genosha."

Ezekiel shook his head as he said, "No way. The Genosha casino is already owned by me and Magneto with plans for it to basically fund the island going forward."

"Is the casino really going to make enough money to run Genosha?" Pepper asked.

Ezekiel smiled as he said, "That's why Tsunade is only allowed to gamble at my casino. She should easily be able to fund Genosha each year."

Ezekiel ended up staying with Tony and Pepper for a little while before he headed home for the night. Tomorrow was Christmas and he knew it would be a busy day. His whole extended family got together and hung out all day at May and Ben's house. After dinner was finished, Theo made a couple plates of food and sealed them away to keep them fresh.

It wasn't hard, he just made a simple genjutsu to make everyone not notice what he was doing. He also packed up a couple of each dessert along with some eggnog and a few other snacks. Once everything was prepared and sealed away, he moved back to where he should be and canceled the genjutsu.

While Theo didn't like to use his skills on his family, sometimes it was needed because he had no other choice. Once Theo and his family returned home, he created a clone and headed down to his training room. From there he switched into Ezekiel before he headed towards Genosha and the magic school after that.

After he arrived in the hidden basement area, he found Tao waiting for him as she played on her phone. Ezekiel pulled out some of the holiday cookies Milly and Issac made, along with a present which he placed down on her coffee table. Tao placed her phone down and pulled out a gift herself as she said, "Merry Christmas."

Ezekiel took the gift and sealed it away as he said, "Merry Christmas to you too."

Tao nodded before she created a portal to Hel as she said, "Enjoy your date."

Ezekiel knew better than to respond so he just stepped through the portal instead. As he arrived he found Hela with a slight smile on her face as she said, "Welcome back."